Burnt Out Fire (Revamped)
by SethFurnace
Summary: The Second Rebellion didn't work out for the Rebels. The Capitol pulled out a victory at the last second and continued the Hunger Games. The 116th Hunger Games involves twenty six Tributes, two from each District (Including District Thirteen). Story follows Seth Slade and all of the other Tributes throught their time in the Games.
1. The Reapings

**The Reapings:**

Panem. One great nation that wouldn't face any more Rebellions because the Capitol was so nice to the Districts. Nice enough to make them watch two of the kids from their own District be sent to death in a cruel invention. But that's not what they told us in School in the Districts, they told us that we were lucky that the Capitol forgave the many mistakes made by the Districts. Like both of the Rebellions. I can picture this same shit being taught to the kids that helped start the second Rebellion. Many people thought that the second Rebellion that started in the 75th Hunger Games was going to work out for the Districts. But somehow in the end, just when it apparently looked like the Districts, the Rebels, were going to win and turn this Nation into something good again; the Capitol pulled out a win. Their mutts just became too much for the Rebel Soldiers. District Thirteen was taken back over by the Capitol and each year after the Rebellion ended there were twenty six kids in the Games instead of twenty four.

In my home, we were taught the truth about the Games, not the lies that the Capitol told us in School. My grandparents were probably in their twenties when the second rebellion was happening. My grandfather fought for the Rebels, but knew when to get out of the fight and go back to District Seven. He knew when to give it up and let the Capitol win. Sure the Schools would like to have us think that the Capitol did us all a favor again by forgiving us in exchange for the Games continuing, but I knew that this was just the Capitols sick way of continuing to punish us; to spit in the face of those Victors that started the second Rebellion. I knew the names of the Victors that started the Rebellion, though we weren't suppose to really speak of them, especially not out in public. I doubted that I'd ever forget the names Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark.

Ever since they both won the 74th Hunger Games, the Gamemakers didn't bend the rules just because two tributes threatened to kill themselves if they both didn't win. From what I heard, many tributes tried that for a few years in the following Games, but it didn't work. And after a while, everyone learned that it wasn't going to work. Everyone from the ages of twelve to eighteen was still in the entry for the Reapings.

* * *

I'm Seth Slade, sixteen years old, and I lived in District Seven in Panem. I hadn't been in any of the other Districts, but that was the typical thing for everyone in Panem, except the Peacekeepers. They mainly came from District Two; but would end up working in the different Districts. Of course, maybe it would've been different if the Rebellions had worked and the Capitol had been taken down.

Unfortunately for the Districts, the Capitol didn't learn anything from the Rebellions and the Hunger Games continued. This year would be the 116th Hunger Games. Three years ago my oldest brother, Luca, had been sent into the Games. He made it through most of the Games, did well, got a lot of sponsors while he was in there and everything. But then on the last day, he was killed by the boy who went on to win the Games. A guy from District Four named Joshua Woodlee. I remembered seeing every gory detail of his death on the TV.

Ever since then, the time around the Games and the Reapings was just a reminder that we personally lost a family member in the Games three years ago. Before that, it didn't really seem so personal. It just seemed like something that went on elsewhere and not right to my family. Some kids loved when the Games came around, loved watching the Games like it was literally that; just a game. But I knew better than to think that the Games was just a game.

Today was the Reapings from every District around Panem. I had another two years to go after this year, my brother Adam had one more after today's Reaping, and this was my sister Leah's last year in the Reapings. My oldest living brother, Jacob, was already out of the Reapings; last year had been his last year in the Reapings.

I dreaded getting up and out of the house for the Reapings; I had ever since Luca died in the Games. I didn't think anyone from my District was really thrilled about having to go through the Reapings, but the people who usually came from District's One, Two, and Four usually volunteered themselves for the Games. I didn't know why, but apparently they wanted to prove that they could win the games. And usually one person from the Careers won the Games. That hadn't changed since the second Rebellion.

I got out of my bed and walked down the small hallway to where the kitchen was in my family's house. Leah, Adam, and Jacob were already sitting down at the table. I was surprised that Jacob wasn't using his day off from work to do something else than eat breakfast with his siblings, but the thought slipped away from my mind before I could put too much thought into it. Of course he'd be home, he'd be going to see the Reapings happen in a while, and plus, three years ago today was the last time we saw Luca alive in person instead of on TV. It was still a touchy subject for most of my family to deal with.

I sat down at the table between Jacob and Adam and looked down at the food. It was a few slices of an orange and some oatmeal, the usual breakfast that we had. With my dad and Jacob being lumberjacks, the pay was good enough for the average family around our District, but we stuck to what we always had for breakfast on Reaping days. This day wasn't any different. Even the oatmeal's consistency was the same as it had been every time we had this meal. I choked down the oatmeal and took my time eating the couple of slices of orange and drinking the cup of water I had.

After I had eaten breakfast, I walked back down the small hallway to the bathroom, took a bath, and then got ready for the Reapings. As soon as I stepped outside, I started heading toward the Town Square here in District Seven. It was where the Reapings were always held in any District. They were always shown on TV later in the day too, from every District. Everyone got the chance to see the kids they'd be betting on to win the Games.

* * *

Once I got in the Town Square, the Peacekeepers took a sample of my blood and sent me in the direction of my age group. I recognized a few faces in the crowd around me, but didn't say anything; just focused on the stage at the front of the Square. There were adults lined around the Square, against the store fronts to watch the Reapings. It was required to come to the Reapings, unless you were too sickly to move out of your house. Of course that didn't apply to the kids who were age for the Reapings.

After a while, the Square was full of kids age twelve to eighteen, every kid in the entire District was here. The usual video played on a screen beside the stage before Izzie, our District's escort for the Tributes that would go into the Games, walked up to the microphone that was placed on the stage. She launched into her speech about what an honor it was for the Tributes to be sent to the Capitol. I only started paying attention when she started grabbing a name out of the girls' bowl of names.

"We'll pick out our girl Tribute for this year's Games." Izzie said, reaching her hand down into the bowl and pulling out a piece of paper that held a name of whoever was going into the Games this year. "And the District Seven female Tribute for the 116th Hunger Games is... Leah Slade!"

I snapped my head over in the direction where Leah was standing, and watched her walk up to the stage. Another one of my siblings was going into the Games, _great._

"And now for District Seven's male Tribute for the 116th Hunger Games." Izzie continuing, grabbing a piece of paper out of the bowl. "And the male Tribute is... Seth Slade!" She looked excited at the fact that Leah and I's last names were the same.

I slowly walked out of my age group and headed up to the stage. "Woah, two Slades in one Hunger Games, how interesting and exciting!" Izzie said in an excited tone. I walked up onto the stage and stood beside Leah. The people in the crowd who were going to be betting on the Games stared at Leah and I and nodded every once in a while.

We were hurried into the Justice building and into separate rooms. After a while of various friends that I had known for a long time coming in, wishing me luck, and telling me goodbye; Adam, Jacob, and my parents walked in and told me goodbye. Peacekeepers were walking in the room after a few seconds of my family being in there and telling me it was time for them to leave and time for me to get on the train that would take me to the Capitol.

As soon as I got onto the train, it took off. Leah was already sitting in one of the seats on the train. I walked over and sat down in one across from her, but stayed quiet.


	2. The Trip To The Capitol

**The Trip To The Capitol:**

After a few hours of being on the train, Izzie walked to where Leah and I were sitting. She hadn't really said anything to us since we'd been picked for the Games. I guess it wasn't her job to care about what we thought of going to the Capitol for what could be our death sentence; she just cared about making sure we got there in one piece and looked presentable. Would hate for a Tribute to get to the Capitol and look anything but perfect.

"How about we get some dinner in you two and then we watch the Reapings from the other Districts?" Izzie offered, smiling. "And in the dinner train you all can meet your mentors, Yenji Hexton and Rector Jackson."

I slowly stood up from the seat I'd been sitting in and Leah did the same. Izzie's smile widened and she led the way to the dinner cab of the train. Already sitting down were two guys who looked to be in their twenties. I recognized Yenji instantly from one of my favorite years of the Games. It might have been mainly due to the fact that a District Seven Tribute had won, but it was also due to the fact that Jacob, Luca, and Adam hadn't thought Yenji had a chance of winning but I did; and in the end, I was the one that was right about the Victor.

I sat down in the seat across from Yenji and he smiled at me. Rector, the other Victor, seemed more reserved and kept eating his food. Servants brought Leah and I a plate filled with food after a couple of seconds.

"So, do you all want to do training together or separately?" Yenji asked, looking at us both. Rector glanced up to wait for an answer.

"Separate." I said quickly. Leah nodded. Yenji nodded and went back to eating. The rest of the dinner was spent in silence. After it was over, Izzie led us all into the living room area of the train and we sat down while she turned on the TV and changed it to the News that was showing the Reapings.

From District One, we watched as two kids were chosen only to be replaced by volunteers Mathias Xinlim and Dianna Weston. District Two was the same story with the volunteers being Randy Rope and Casey Jade. District Three was two siblings like Leah and I, John Palin and Jess Palin. District Four held a very familiar name being the Male volunteer, Trey Woodlee. The female Tribute from Four was Hope Countell, surprisingly no one volunteered to take her place. District Five was when the volunteers dropped off, with the Tributes being Daniel Ratlee and Bailey Hadison. District Six was Tyler Hadix and Abbi Snyder. District Seven was Leah and I. District Eight was Jose Mattison and Georgia Allie. District Nine being Stephan Locklee, a twelve year old, and Madison Watson. District Ten was Evan Powers and Taylor Lottlee. District Eleven was West Jadson, a huge guy, and a smaller girl, Rakayah Davidson. District Twelve was David Franklin and Natalie Radison. District Thirteen was Ivan Mikason and Staci Adson.

I thought over the names, the one that was sicking out was Trey Woodlee. I had put it together as soon as he walked up onto the stage and Joshua Woodlee slapped him on the back that he was the younger brother of the guy who killed my older brother. Three years after my brothers death, I was going into the games to face the brother of the guy who killed him.

I got up off of the couch and walked through the train to the first Tribute bedroom I found, closing the door behind me. I sat down on the bed in the room for a while before laying back and falling asleep. By the time I woke up the next morning we had covered most of the distance between District Seven and the Capitol.

I walked around the room and found a closet filled with clothing, I grabbed a new pair of clothing and changed into it. I walked out of the door and into the dinner train.

"We'll be pulling into the Capitol soon." Yenji said. I nodded.

After breakfast was finished, we were getting closer to the Capitol. The breakfast included all sort of rich food that definitely wouldn't be served for breakfast in District Seven. Or probably any other District for that matter. I was pretty sure only the Capitol ate all of this food.

A couple hours later, Izzie had us standing in front of the windows ready for the Capitol audience that would be standing out waiting for the trains for each of the Districts to arrive. As soon as we pulled into the Capitol, the crowds were huge. They were cheering as the train went by and the sheer amount of people shocked me. We went through a tunnel that blocked out every bit of light that had been coming in the train. We pulled into this station that led into a building that I took to be the training center where the Tributes lived until the Games started.

We spent most of the day seeing where we'd be living on the seventh floor. Then we sat down for dinner. Yenji and Rector were both quiet during dinner while Izzie talked constantly about the fact that tomorrow was the chariot rides and how much there was to see in the Capitol if one of us was to win.

After that we were excused to our bedrooms. After a few minutes of me being in there, Leah walked in.

"Nice room, little bro." She said, smiling at me.

"Yeah, I bet yours looks just like this, huh?" I asked, laughing slightly. She nodded. "So which of us do you think the Victors are betting on?"

"You probably. You're much more likable than I am." Leah said. "Sleep tight." She walked out of my room. I laid down and after a few minutes fell asleep.

* * *

I was running through a jungle somewhere. I must have seen this scene in a Hunger Games before this year. I had a sword in one hand and a flashlight in the other. I didn't know where I was going, in fact I was very lost. I just knew I had to keep running, from what I don't know. But my plan was to keep running, I knew that I was in big trouble. Horrible trouble. If only I knew what that trouble was. I rounded the corner of a tree, and tripped over a weed in the ground. My ankle twisted and I kept rolling down a hill. I suppose it was just luck that I didn't stab myself in the process of rolling. I heard two pairs of footsteps running down the hill after me.

"There he is!" A voice screamed. I slowly opened my eyes to see Trey Woodlee and... my sister running down the hill with weapons in their hands. I let out a moan and tried to roll over. Once I managed to stand up, I grabbed my sword. Trey and Leah were right on me at this point though. I took a couple steps and ended up just tripping again.

Trey stepped on my chest and held his spear against my neck. I was going to be killed by the younger brother of the guy who killed my oldest brother and my own sister. I felt a hot pain in my chest and looked down to see a knife burried deep into my side. I let out a howl, even if I couldn't save myself, maybe I could get Trey and Leah found by other tributes. Thats when I felt Treys spear go into my neck. This wasn't a quick black-out death either, I felt every single second of pain that that Spear gave me.

* * *

When I woke up from the dream, I was covered in sweat. I slipped out of my bed and headed to my bedroom's bathroom; stopping by the closet to grab some clothes. I changed into the new clothes and looked around the room for a while again. I figured that I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep after that. It would be almost impossible after dreaming about dying in the Games. So instead, I headed out of my room and looked around. After a few seconds, I spotted a servant and walked up to him.

"Hey, is there anything to do around here? I can't sleep. Bad idea, I know, but I figure looking around might help..." I trailed off watching his shocked expression. I guess the Tributes don't really speak to the servants a lot.

After a minute, his face expression changed and he smiled at me. "Oh yes, of course there is, sir. The gardens up on the thirteenth floor are somewhat of a favorite spot for young Tributes such as yourself. Please, enjoy the gardens during your time here." He didn't include the part that I could be heading off to my death in a few days, but it seemed implied.

I nodded and went over to an elevator. I stepped inside of it and pressed the thirteen button. The elevator shot upward, the back wall being a complete window with a view of the Capitol outside of the training center. Within a matter of seconds, the elevator was stopping at the thirteenth floor. The floor had been added on as soon as the second rebellion ended and the Capitol took control back over District Thirteen. It usually housed only the Tributes from the District, but I guessed it wasn't against the rules for the other Tributes to come up here. If I got caught and it turned out that it was, I'd just say that the servant told me it was alright.

I headed down the main hallway and saw a door at the end of it. I pushed the door open as soon as I got close enough to it and walked outside into the garden. It was bigger than what I had expected it to be, but it wasn't too big. There were all sorts of different plants, even a few birds out here. I rounded a corner and spotted a tank holding water and different sorts of fish. There was another male Tribute standing beside the tnk. I wouldn't of recognized him if he didn't turn around. When he did, it was like I was staring into the face of my brothers murderer. Except if he was younger. Trey Woodlee stared back at me.

When he spoke, it wasn't what I expected his voice to be like and I had to remind myself that he was my age or only a year or two older than me. "I can come back later, if you'd rather have the garden to yourself. I've been out here for a few hours." He said, shrugging and picking an apple up off of the railing. I shook my head, figuring the garden was big enough for two people. Even if the two people were going to end up in an arena together trying to kill each other.

"Feel free to stay." I said, looking around. Trey tossed the apple out into the sky only to have it bounce back into his hand.

"It's a force field. My brother told me about them. I've been out here tossing this apple around all night, when I wasn't looking at the fish and the small shark." Trey said, shrugging and looking over at me before tossing the apple back out into the sky.

"Sounds like a great warm up for the arena." I said, walking away.

"I hate talking about the arena. I mean, I know I'm going in there. I even volunteered to go into the Games. But why waste time talking about it? Especially when you're going to have to face me in there." Trey called out behind me.

I looked back just in time to see him send the apple flying out into the air with about as much a it seemed he could do. The apple bounced off of the force field and began to fly toward me. I raised my hand up just in time to catch it. I looked over to find a smirk on Trey's face.

"Nice catch. So, want to act like you want no sort of companion while you're out here, due to the Games, or want to have a nice old fashion game of catch? It's apparently illegal for us to communicate, let alone play a game together, but who cares? We're going off to death right?" Trey said laughing and looking around. "Not like the fish in this tank care that they're in the same tank with something that might eat them."

I nodded and tossed the apple into the force field, it luckily hit it at such an angle that it flew towards Trey. He sent it back at me and I had to run a few steps to the right in order to catch it. It turned out to be sort of fun being around another person and playing catch. It was almost as if I was back as a little kid playing with some friends and running around District Seven, just looking to get into trouble. After what was probably a few hours, we stopped playing catch and just turned toward doing our own things. I watched the fish and shark for a while, Trey started making knots into a vince that he had gotten from one of the plants.

"Is that all they teach you guys in Four?" I asked, laughing.

Trey looked back at me. "Huh?"

"Tying knots and wielding tridents." I said, gesturing toward the vine in his hand. He laughed after a second.

"I guess it's sorta crazy, but yeah, kinda. Especially when you have a dad and an uncle that are fishers. You just sorta learn to tie knots easily enough." He said, looking back at the vine. "What do you all do in Seven?"

"Oh, you know, just go around cutting down tree's all day." I said, shrugging and trying to keep a straight face. After a second Trey and I both burst out laughing.

"Dude that'd be ridiculous if you all did." Trey said, laughing still. A few seconds later, the door to the garden opened and closed again and Trey shot up off of the ground, tossing the vine back into the plant and looking over at the door. I turned too, seeing the female Tribute from District Thirteen.

"I'm going back in. Maybe we can hang at the training sessions or something." He said, tossing the apple at me. I caught it and watched as he walked back inside of the building. I dropped the apple down at my foot and continued looking at the fish, trying to ignore the other Tribute.

"Seth Slade from District Seven, right?" I heard from behind me. I turned around and looked at the girl. "Staci Adson. District Thirteen."

"Yeah, I know. I watched the Reapings." I said, shaking my head and turning back to the fish tank.

"Well isn't that just a great way to introduce yourself to a new person." She said, stepping beside me and looking into the tank full of fish.

I laughed some. "We're suppose to kill each other in a matter of days. How exactly am I suppose to introduce myself?"

"Well, I don't know. How you'd introduce yourself at your home?" She offered looking over at me.

I shrugged. "I know most of the people in my District."

"Okay, so introduce yourself to me however you did to that boy from District Four." She said, her eyes staying on my face.

"I'd say I'm Seth Slade, but you seem to already know that. And you've already told me your name. So, hey I'm Seth Slade, sixteen years old, I only had two years left in the Reapings and here I am. Sucks for me." I said, shrugging.

She shook her head. "Staci Adson, I'm eighteen. Last year. I think I have it worse than you, Seth, as far as the Reapings go."

"My sisters in this years Games and my brother was in it three years ago, and died." I said, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm sharing a floor with a psycho. Seriously, the male Tribute from my District, total psycho." She said smirking. "But yeah, I remember your brothers Games."

"I think we're even for how bad we have it here." I said, shrugging.

Staci nodded. "I guess so." She said, looking around. I did too, the sky was getting lighter.

"I better get back inside, I've been out here for hours." I said, walking back toward the door.

"See you, Seth." Staci called out behind me. I nodded and walked inside, stepping into the elevator and pressing the seventh floor button. A minute later, I stepped out of the elevator and walked to the dinning room and sat down beside Leah. Everyone looked over at me.

"Where have you been?" Izzie asked.

"The garden up on the thirteenth floor." I said, shrugging and starting to eat the food that was placed in front of me.

"It's pretty nice up there isn't it?" Kenji said, smiling. I nodded.

Izzie went on to explain that we'd be in prepping most of the day and then off to the Chariot rides, tomorrow would start the training for the Games.

* * *

After breakfast, I was led off to a completely different room by myself, where my prep team, who had introduced themselves as Paulio, Chynthia, and Marco, went to work on my hair and teeth. After a couple of hours, my hair was cut neatly to my head, and I had a perfectly white smile. I was taken to another room where my main stylist, a guy that Paulio had called Natten, was sitting there waiting for me.

"So, are you ready to see your Lumber outfit?" Natten asked, smiling fondly at me. I shrugged.

"Won't it just be a tree?" I asked. That seemed to be what all of the Tributes of the past years had been dressed in.

"No. We're dressing you and your sister like axes. Gold, bronze. Everything that an ax is." Natten replied, looking around.

Somehow within a few hours, I was dressed in an outfit that somewhat resembled an ax, I guess, if you had an artists eye. If you didn't, like I didn't, you'd just think I was dressed in gold and bronze. I was seated in a chariot with Leah. I took a look around at the rest of the Tributes. I spotted Trey standing up in the District Four chariot with the Hope girl from his District. They were both dressed in fishing nets, though his was a lot more revealing than her's.

Trey spotted me looking at him and looked at my outfit then at his own and shrugged, laughing some. I laughed too before continuing to look at the other Tributes. District's One and Two halfway looked like they were in war armor. District Three was in a light sort of outfit, with some real light bulbs already hooked up on their outfits. Some of the rest of the outfits just fit to what the District's trade was. Like District Twelve appeared to be covered in coal dust. Most of the Tributes were sitting silently in their chariots. I looked back at the District Four chariot and saw Joshua Woodlee telling Trey to sit down and after a few minutes, he did.

Rector, Yenji, Izzie, and our stylists were trying to tell us what to do to play to the crowd. I tuned out their instructions and looked at the District Three chariot to see the siblings arguing already, probably about what sort of strategy to go with. I didn't pay much attention to anyone really in the room, not even Leah. I was going over what I wanted to act like in my head. After I had figured out that the crowd would probably like to have a nicer Slade out there, since it was unlikely that Leah was going to act nice to the crowd at all.

A while passed and then finally the doors opened and the chariots started going out, one by one. There seemed to be more noise from the crowd left the room. Once our chariot left the room, I looked around and tried to smile as good as I possibly could. There seemed to be a ton of people at the opening ceremonies, which if I recalled correctly always happened. It just seemed like a ton more people in person than it ever did on TV. We rode around the Capitol Town Square for what seemed like hours, before coming to a stop in the seventh spot with the rest of the chariots. President Gaben walked out onto the balcony above the Square.

President Gaben went through a long speech that seemed to last for as long as the whole parade did. I attempted to pay attention to the President but it was hard to pay attention when I was sitting in a chariot surrounded by millions of Capitol Citizens. After the President's speech ended, our chariots went into the training center building again. It seemed like all of the Tributes got out of their charitos at once. Izzie, Rector, and Yenji were standing there waiting for Leah and I. Izzie was telling us how well we looked in the chariot when I zoned out and just turned to looking around the training center room. I looked back at them at the same time that Izzie's speech had apparently ended. They led us up to our floor and I headed to my room since I knew that the next morning would bring the training for the Games.


	3. Training For The Games

**Training For The Games:**

When I woke up the next morning for training, I sat on my bed for a few seconds wondering how exactly training would go. I knew that it was just learning how to use different weapons and how to survive. It should be easy enough to just get up and go down to training and get through the day, but I knew that it would also be facing the other Tributes and seeing as the Career Pack was formed in front of my face. It was always decided by Districts One, Two, and Four who else would be in the Career Pack.

They usually decided by the end of training and requested for the other people to be put in their alliance. I thought through the Tributes names I could remember, I knew who would be in the group automatically. Trey Woodlee, Randy Rope, and Mathias Xinlim. The male Tributes from Four, Two, and One. They were all definitely in. The rest of the Tributes were a mystery. There may only be three Tributes in the Career Pack this year. Or six, if all of the female Tributes from One, Two, and Four are worth it in the eyes of the male Tributes from those District's.

I finally got out of my bed and got dressed in the training outfit that was in my closet. I walked out the door and down the hallway toward the dining room. Everyone else was already there, including the stylists. I sat down in my usual seat and looked around the table. Yenji smiled and Rector nodded. The breakfast was silent until Rector spoke up.

"Rules. One, don't get into a fight. Two, make friends. Allies will keep you alive in the Arena." Rector stated, giving a shrug as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. I nodded and looked over at Leah. Izzie tood up from the table and loooked at us both.

"If you both are done eating, we can go on down to the training center." Izzie said. I nodded and stood up. Leah stood up a few seconds after I did. Izzie led us to the elevator and we all got in. She pushed the button for the training center and after a second we were all heading downward. Once the elevator came to a stop, we all got out of the elevator. Izzie walked us closer to the door of the training center and looked at us both.

"You both will do just fine." She said, looking back at the elevator. It opened to reveal the District Four Tributes. The female Tribute walked on into the training center. Trey walked by and nodded in my direction before walking into the training center. Izzie finally finished looking us over and making sure we looked good enough to go into the training center. She motioned for us to walk into the room.

When we got in the room, all of the other Tributes were there in a semi-circle. I took a spot in the line-up and listened as the lead trainer from the training center spoke about what stations there were and what not to do in training. As soon as she finished all of the Tributes took off in different directions. I went to a station where there were spears and dummies sitting up. As soon as I had grabbed a spear, I heard someone walk up beside me. Glancing over out of the corner of my eye I saw Trey standing there.

"The babysitter over there is your sister right?" Trey asked, gesturing with his head behind us. I looked back and saw Leah looking over in my direction.

I let out a sigh and nodded. "Yeah, my sister." I said, looking down at the spear in my hands. Trey nodded and let out a laugh.

"My brother, Josh, gave me a twenty minute speech after breakfast about what to do and what not to do in training." Trey said, picking up a spear and tossing it directly into the chest of one of the dummies. "I was hoping I'd get the chance to talk to you."

I looked over at him and raised an eyebrow. "What do you want to talk to me about?" I asked throwing the spear in my hands at a dummy. As soon as it hit the dummy, Trey nodded.

"Just wanted to see if I had someone other than the rest of the Careers to hang out with during training. Hell, maybe if we both make it past the rest of the Careers in the Games, we can team up in the Arena. Having allies is better tan being alone in there." Trey stated, shrugging. I was about to answer when two blonde guys walked up and looked at Trey. I looked at both of the guys.

One of them was taller than the other and was skinny. The other shorter, but wider. The taller one had blue eyes and the shorter one had green. I recognized the taller, thinner, one as Mathias Xinlim from District One. The other one was Randy Rope from District Two. They both glanced over at me after a few minutes of standing there.

"Seen anyone interesting, Trey?" Randy said, looking at Trey and talking like I wasn't even standing there. He said it loud enough that I was sure half of the room heard exactly what he said.

"Randy, I've had my eye on a few people. They seem good with knives and spears, might be what we need in the Games." Trey replied. Mathias nodded, but Randy didn't seem impressed.

"Maybe. I'll keep watch on everyone. You just... practice. I'm going to need any backup I can get to win." Randy said, walking off to the knife station. Mathias followed after a second. Trey looked at me for a minute and nodded before walking off to a station that taught us about what type of nuts aren't good to eat and which are.

I looked around and walked over to the obstacle course where the Tributes from District Thirteen were. The boy was halfway up the net ladder which he got his foot stuck and was sent flying down toward the mats that was on the floor. Staci, the girl Tribute who I had met in the Garden, laughed at him. He got up and glared.

"It's not fair anyway. Of course the smaller Tributes are going to have more luck in climbing than I would." He said, narrowing his eyes at Staci.

"Whatever, Ivan. Keep making excuses." Staci said, smirking at him and starting up the net ladder.

I spent the rest of the time training before lunch on the obstacle course with the District Thirteen Tributes. I tried not to think back to the Careers conversation that had happened right beside me but it kept bugging me. What would the Careers be looking for? The question kept repeating itself in my mind. Trey was already a definite Career, that much was obvious from the way he talked and the way Randy had talked to him. At one point before we broke for lunch, I saw Trey talking with Randy and Mathias. They were probably the first three decided members of the Careers. They all were probably in the group before they even got near the Capitol. They were all glancing over at the guy from District Eleven, who was huge.

* * *

When we broke for lunch, I was walking down the hallway toward the lunchroom that the peacekeepers were leading us to when I heard someone running up beside me. I looked over to see Trey standing there.

"Hey." I said, looking behind us to see the rest of the Careers that had grouped together within the last few minutes of training. There were five in the group behind us plus Trey. All of District's One, Two, and Four.

"Hey. Want to eat with us all? I told the guys about your spear throwing. They said they could give you a chance at getting into the group after lunch. You'll just show off to them, of course there is no official group until the Arena and the scores, but yeah." Trey said quickly, smiling at me. I shrugged and then nodded. Why not sit with the careers?

Trey smiled and ran back to the other Careers. Staci Adson walked up beside me. "Thought I'd offer you a place to sit, if you want to join us from District Thirteen." She said, smiling at me.

I nodded and then shook my head. "Can't. I'm sitting with the Career Pack." I said, shrugging.

"Oh. Must be pretty impressive if you get to sit with them." She said, looking at me.

I shrugged. "Yeah, I guess." I said.

"Well good luck then. Hope you don't expect them to not stab you in the back as soon as they no longer need you in the Arena." Staci said, speeding up.

I walked into the room and looked around before grabbing a tray. There were carts around the room with food on each of them. Most of the food was definitely Capitol food, I couldn't tell with some of the rest of it.

Everyone got food and then sat down at a table that suited them. I looked around the room and saw Trey and the rest of the Careers at a table. Trey stood up and waved me over as soon as he saw me.

"Hey Seth! Over here!" He called out smirking. I shook my head and walked over and sat down beside Trey. Trey smirked at me and then looked around at the rest of the group.

"Seth Slade. Mathias Xinlim, Dianna Weston, Randy Rope, Casey Jade, and Hope Countell. Oh well, and of course me." Trey said, pointing to everyone as he said their names. I nodded.

"Spears huh?" Randy asked, looking at me while he took a bite of his food.

I nodded. "Yep, spears. Of course I can use other weapons too. Just been working with spears today." I said, shrugging. Randy nodded. After that all of the conversations seemed to be based on stuff that had to do with our District's and not the Games, which I was thankful for.

I looked around the room and saw that there was a basket of breed rolls on each table. I looked down at our basket and pulled out a couple of different pieces. Mathias noticed me doing this and grabbed out the rest of the different types of bread and put them in a line with the two pieces I had grabbed.

"Different types of bread from all of the different District's." He stated, nodding down at the line. He pointed at one. "District Number One," He moved his hand down to the other end of the line. "And District Number Thirteen."

I grabbed the pieces that were District Four's and District Thirteen's. I took a bite out of the District Four bread. It was salty and had a weird taste to it, but it wasn't that bad. Mathias laughed and shook his head.

"It's got seaweed on it too. That gives it the green tint and the weird taste." He said, nodding to the bread I had just taken a bite of. I nodded and took a bite of the District Thirteen. It tasted like it was made out of the grain that we got if we entered our names into the Reapings extra times, but it was definitely closer to the bread I was used to in Seven.

I looked around the room again, with everyone either eating or in conversations they all looked more like their actual ages. I saw one girl who couldn't be more than thirteen years old sitting with the District Thirteen Tributes. I recognized the young girl as the female Tribute from District Eleven. I looked around the room and found my sister sitting with the other Tribute from Eleven and both Tributes from Twelve. They were all talking.

* * *

After lunch, we went back to the training room and started back where we left off. I threw some spears in front of the Career Pack and I honestly couldn't tell if they were impressed or not. Randy, who seemed to be taking the leader spot of the Careers, didn't seem impressed at all. After I finished throwing spears, I walked over to where the Tributes from Thirteen were. As soon as I got over there, Staci walked off. The Tributes from Three walked up. Ivan, the male Tribute from Thirteen, stayed at the station.

* * *

After training, I was exhausted and figured I was going to go to bed as soon as dinner was over with, if I was allowed to. Dinner with the two Victors, Izzie, Leah, and the Stylists was silent and thankfully no one asked how training went for either of us. I didn't even know if they were allowed to ask, but I was glad to not have to explain how or why I ended up eating with the Career Pack, or try to explain how my spear throwing exhibit went with the Careers. I didn't want to know if I made it into their group of not. After dinner, I took a show and headed to bed.


	4. End Of Training And Interviews

**End Of Training And The Interviews:**

The next two days of training went the same. Train. Eat lunch. Train some more. Dinner. Shower. Sleep. Wake up. Do it all over again. I did everything they had to do in training. I tried to stick with the Tributes from Districts Three and Eleven, but on the third day of training the boy from Three started hanging out with the Careers. Trey didn't speak to me during training again, and even seemed to avoid the stations I was at.

On the last day of training, the guy from Eleven joined up with the Career Pack, leaving me with the girl from Eleven. We were joined by the Tributes from Twelve during training. During lunch, right before the private training sessions. I was eating with the Tributes from Twelve and the girl from Eleven.

I looked over at the Career Pack's table. I already pretty much knew I hadn't made it into the Career Pack, I figured they had already chosen the members of their group. At the table, I found both Tributes from District One, both from Two, John Palin from Three, Both from Four, West Jadson from Eleven, and then my sister. Had Leah made it into the Career Pack? I hadn't even thought of that possibility. For the last day, we had been practicing tatics with our mentors for the interviews. We hadn't trained together for the interviews, but that was expected since we had chosen to not train together for that at the beginning.

But we also hadn't talked much since training had started, but was I supposed to instantly think that my sister had gone and joined the Career Pack? I knew that if she was in the Career Pack, it wouldn't really mean anything. That wouldn't mean I was safe. I would die just like twenty-four other people. Leaving one person alive, the victor of the 116th Hunger Games. Just like every other Hunger Games. This wouldn't be any exception to the rules. Just because I had a family member in the Careers didn't mean I was going to live. Probably meant the opposite. The Career Pack would probably kill me. If Leah won, would my family accept her back home if she had condemned me to death?

* * *

After lunch ended, one by one starting with the male Tribute from District One, we were called to our private session. After the rest of the Career Pack, except for West Jadson, had been called back and then excused to their floors, Leah walked over to the table I was sharing with Rakayah Davidson, David Franklin, and Natalie Radison.

"Mind leaving?" Leah snapped at the three people who had practically become as close to friends as anyone could have in the training center. One by one they all got up and moved to a table nearby that Staci and Ivan from Thirteen were at. Leah sat down in the seat across the table from me.

"What do you want?" I asked, looking at her and then looking at the table that David, Rakayah, and Natalie had moved to.

"Such a nice way to treat your sister." Leah said, smirking at me.

"Well, how should I treat you then?" I asked, loudly. "You've joined the Careers! I'm going to die and you won't give a damn because you'll have a better chance at winning! That's not even how a sister should be to her brother, Leah!"

I stood up and walked over to a table in the corner completely across the room. I was thankful when I didn't hear any footsteps following me. At least my sister had that much respect for me to leave me alone at this point.

The Tributes from Five and Six were called. Then my name was. I exited the room, nodding over at Rakayah, David, and Natalie. I walked beside the Peacekeeper that was leading me back to the training room. When we got there, I walked toward a spear that was sitting against the wall.

"You may begin, District Seven Male Tribute." The head Gamemaker's voice said over the intercom. I nodded to myself and lifted up the spear. Turning around, I let the spear fly through the air toward a dummy. When it struck it in the chest, I let a grin spread across my face. I walked across the room and pulled the spear out of the dummy. I took a couple steps backwards and quickly spun around hitting the dummy in the side with the spear. I left the spear there and walked over to grab a sword. For the rest of the training session, I went from stabbing dummies with swords to flinging spears at dummies.

"You're excused, District Seven." The voice shouted again. I walked out of the room.

* * *

Riding in the elevator back up to the Seventh Floor, I felt as if I had messed up in the private training session. I tried to push the thought out of my mind and focus on other things, so I looked out of the elevator window. I saw a lot of Capitol people crowded around the training center, probably waiting for the scores from the private sessions.

Once I got upstairs, I ditched dinner. I ate in my room and then went to the living room to see the scores. I was planning on going right back to bed after the scores were shown. The scores came on the TV and started with District One, as usual. Mathias Xinlim got a score of Ten. Dianna Weston got a score of Six. Randy Rope got a Nine. Casey Jade Eight. John Palin Nine. Jess Palin Five. Trey Woodlee Eleven. Hope Countell Seven. Daniel Ratlee Eight. Bailey Hadison Five. Tyler Hadix Seven. Abbi Snyder Four. Me Eight. Leah Ten. Jose Mattison Seven. Georgia Alli Four. Stephan Locklee Eight. Madison Watson Six. Evan Powers Nine. Taylor Lottlee Five. West Jadson Eleven. Rakayah Davidson Nine. David Franklin Seven. Natalie Radison Five. Ivan Mikason Ten. Staci Adson Nine.

As soon as the last score was off the screen, I got up and stormed off toward my room. I laid down in my bed and after a few minutes, I slipped into sleep. The dreams of the Games followed me into my sleep, and I woke up multiple times, but luckily I kept finding my way back to sleeping. I was thankful that I could fall back asleep all of the times I woke up from nightmares.

* * *

The next morning, I woke up to my prep team in my room. They led me off to the prep room, telling me all about how they wished me luck in my interview and how they just knew I'd be an instant fan favorite. After a few hours of prepping me and making sure I looked 'acceptable', I was led to where Natten was waiting for me. We spent a while trying to decide what suit would be better for me to wear in the interview. Natten ended up putting me in a blue and black suit.

"It's not that showy, but maybe the crowd will like you for your cautious approach to the interview dressing." Natten said. I nodded and looked in the mirror.

"You'll do fine, kid. Just remember, be yourself. You're a brilliant and nice kid from what I've seen of you. The crowd will love that." He told me. I nodded again and took a deep breath. Natten led me up to the elevator and pushed a button to send me to where I was supposed to go for the interviews.

"Just remember, be yourself." He said quickly before the elevator door closed. I took a deep breath as the elevator took off. Within a few minutes, the door was opening again and I was stepping out into a room where most of the other Tributes were already standing. I saw that when Natten said I was in a cautious outfit, he wasn't kidding. Most of the other Tributes were in bright reds, yellows, greens, or some other bright mix of colors. I was definitely calmy dressed compared to the rest of the Tributes. After a while, we were escorted out onto the stage where the interviews began.

Dianna Weston started off the interviews with a classic story of how she just hoped she could make it out of the Games. I tuned out, blocking out the other Tributes interviews, and just looking out at the crowd. The crowd was huge, probably even bigger than the opening ceremonies crowd had been.

When Cesaer introduced me, I walked over to the chair beside him and sat down, smiling out at the crowd. "So, Seth, do you like the Capitol?" Cesaer asked.

"Of course, I do. Who wouldn't, Cesaer?" I replied, smiling at him before looking back at the crowd.

He nodded. "Seth, tell us about having your sister in the Games with you?"

"Well, I'll tell you the truth, Cesaer. No sibling relationship is perfect. It's hard knowing that only one of us can win. Knowing one of us will definitely die. I hate it, Cesaer." I said, shaking my head and looking over at him. To Cesaer's credit, he's a good actor. He put on a sad smile and nodded slowly.

"I understand, Seth. It must be hard to be the third person out of your siblings to go into these Games." Cesaer said. "What if neither of you win?"

"I personally don't want to think about that. I want one of us to win. My family can't lose three people."

Cesaer nodded. "Say you win, what are you planning on doing?"

"Going back home and spending time with my family. Sure, I'll be back here eventually, and I hope the Capitol Citizen's welcome me back as good as they've welcomed me since I've been here for the Games. But first, I'm going back home to spend time with my two brothers and my parents." I replied.

After a few more comments, my interview was over and the rest of the Tributes had their interviews. I paid no attention to the rest of the interviews, because finally it was dawning on me. Tomorrow, I'd be heading to the arena. Tomorrow would be the first day that I'd be facing death. After the interviews, we were let back inside and I hurried upstairs.


	5. The Beginning Of The 116th Hunger Games

**The Beginning Of The 116th Hunger Games:**

I woke up the next morning to find Natten sitting in my room. I nodded at him and sat up on the edge of the bed. Today was the Games, I should've figured someone would be in my room to get me up as soon as I woke up. Would hate to have a Tribute getting up late or something.

"Ready to head to the hovercraft? You'll get breakfast on it." Natten said, looking at me. I nodded and we headed out of my room and down the hallway. I didn't know that I wouldn't be seeing anyone else until the Arena or else I wouldn't have gone straight to bed last night. I would've spent some time saying goodbye to my prep team and the Victors. We got on a ladder going up into a hovercraft. I got on the ladder and was instantly frozen in place. A Capitol worker injected something into my arm and I was free to go again. Natten got into the hovercraft after me. We sat down and Natten ordered some food for me.

"Eat. You don't know when you're next chance will be." He mumbled the last part, nodding at the food. I took a few bites of different stuff that was common breakfast items. I was nervous about going into the Arena, so it was hard to think about eating now. Even though I knew that it would be a while before I got to eat again; if I ever got the chance to eat again.

The trip to where the Arena was seemed to take forever and yet no time at the same time. Soon enough, we were getting off of the hovercraft in some sort of basement. Natten handed me a chance of clothes which were the Tributes' outfit for the Arena. I went into a bathroom and changed into the outfit.

Afterwards, Natten and I sat down for a few seconds. He shot up off of his chair as soon as a count for the Tributes to be in the Arena started. "You'll do just fine in there, Seth." Natten said, placing his hands on my shoulders. "Trust no one. But trust everything, but whoever wants you to trust them."

I nodded and swallowed. "Thanks for you know the tips on the interview and who to trust and not to trust in the Games." I said. Natten nodded and squeezed my shoulder. I walked over to the tunnel going up to the Arena and stepped on the plate. The tube came down around me blocking out any noise. Natten waved at me and slowly the bottom of the plate that I was standing on in the tube lifted me up into the Arena.

* * *

I looked around to see the other twenty five people standing on plates. It looked like we were randomly placed around. My plate was in between Trey and Staci's. I saw Leah across the field on her plate. The first fifty seconds of the minute we were stuck on the plates seemed to take forever, then the ten second countdown started. Ten... Nine... Eight... Seven... Six... Five... Four... Three... Two...

"Welcome to the 116th Hunger Games Ladies and Gentlemen!" A voice boomed out over the Arena.

A cannon fired and everyone was off running toward the Cornucopia, including me. I looked ahead of me to see that Trey had found himself a trident and a net already in the piles of weapons and equipment; the rest of the Careers were picking through the weapons. I heard running coming up behind me and a voice shout "Duck!", I did and Trey's trident went flying over my head. I heard the trident stick in someone behind me. A cannon sounded out. I grabbed a backpack, a spear, and some knives and got up to run toward the jungle.

Once I was inside the safety of the jungle, I started slowing down to a walk. I sat down as soon as I came to a log that was laying over. I heard a rock slip behind me and I stood up with my spear. Rakayah Davidson from District Eleven slipped out from being a tree. I smirked and relaxed my grip on the spear.

"Hey." I said quietly.

"Hey." She replied. "Allies right? Want some water? I grabbed two backpacks and they both had jug's of water in them." I nodded and she tossed me a jug. I opened it and took a drink. After a few seconds of drinking, another cannon went off.

"Want to go spy on them all? I got knives, a backpack, and a spear." I asked, grinning. Rakayah nodded and we walked towards the edge of the jungle. It looked like the Career Pack and only a few people were still near the Cornucopia. I watched as Leah swung an ax toward the girl from District Three's head. I searched my brain for the name of the girl. Jess Palin. The older sister of the male Tribute, John Palin. John was in the Careers thought. I let out a breath as Jess Palin's head ended up disconnected from her body.

"Lets get out of here." Rakayah said as the cannon went off to signal the death of Jess Palin. Her brother had just stood there without doing anything as his sister was beheaded. I nodded after a few minutes and we picked up our stuff and headed further into the jungle. I took two of the backpacks and let her carry the knives. I kept my spear out ready for an attack that would come at some time in the Games.

After a few hours of walking without hearing another cannon, I could only think of how at this point the Career's were probably hunting for people to kill. Rakayah stopped walking beside me and looked over at me.

"Can you climb?" She asked, looking at the trees in front of me before glancing back at me.

"Yeah," I replied, looking up. The trees looked like some of the trees that we had in District Seven. Rakayah nodded before walking toward one of the shorter trees and climbing up it. I readjusted my backpacks and hooked my spear in them before climbing up the same tree. I stopped at a branch on the other side of the tree from the branch Rakayah was on. We sat up in the trees for a while, going through our supplies.

The backpack I had grabbed had a few apples and oranges in it; it also had some bread and a jug of water. We split some of the fruit, bread, and drank some water for a meal. We mostly sat in silence while eating and after we were done. I kept glancing down at the ground, looking for any sign of trouble. While the trees were a great place to stay off of the ground in, it also was harder to get away in. Before the sun went down, we found a way to strap all of our weapons and bags to the tree in a way that shouldn't be seen by anyone passing by.

"Who should take the first watch?" Rakayah asked me.

"I will." I replied, she nodded. The Capitol Seal came up in the sky after a few minutes. It showed the faces of the dead. Jess Palin from Three, Bailey Hadison from Five. Not nearly as bad as every other blood bath that had happened in the Games.

* * *

After a while, I was awake by myself and keeping my eyes on the ground waiting for anyone to show up. I wondered what the rest of the Tributes were doing right now, were they all asleep? Hunting each other? I spent most of the night holding my spear in my arms and watching the ground.

As the light started to come up, I slipped down the tree with some knives, my spear, and an empty backpack, along with the two empty jugs that we had drank water out of the day before. We were going to need more supplies, so I figured I'd go and look.

I hadn't gotten far away from the tree were Rakayah still was when a boot planted itself square in my face. I fell backwards and hit the ground with a thud. Blood gushed out of my nose and my attacker landed on my chest with a knife pressed to my throat. My eyes took a second to adjust but as soon as they did, I was looking at the face of Staci Adson.

I tossed her off of me and grabbed my spear off of the ground, shrugging the backpack to the ground. She pounced at me again and I dropped the spear pulling out a knife and slicing her arm with it. Her knife burried itself into my arm. I yanked it out and tossed it to the ground, and flung my knife back at her, she ducked it and tripped me onto the ground. I felt a knife cut itself into my back and let out a yell.

She pushed her knife into my side and got up, placing a well thought out kick to my mouth and stabbing another knife deep into my leg before grabbing the spear and taking off running. I laid there on the ground for a few seconds, trying to figure out how to get the knives out of my side and leg without causing even more damage before I heard footsteps running up behind me.

A foot rolled me over, and all of the four Career Pack members that were here were looking down at me. I looked up at Trey, Leah, Mathias, and Casey. I spit out some blood and tried to roll over.

"He's as good as dead guys. Whoever got ahold of him before we got here did a number on him." Trey said, looking around. "Lets just get rid of his body. Dump it in the river up there, the Gamemakers will find it."

Mathias nodded and yanked me up by my arms, Trey grabbed my feet. They carried me to where I could hear water rushing past and tossed me. I hit the water seconds before the rest of my stuff did.

I floated in and out of being awake and aware of where I was. A few times I got dragged under water by the current, but I managed to get back floating every time. The fight kept playing through my head.

* * *

When I came completely to and everything came into focus, I realized that I was far away from the Career Pack. I had no clue how long I had been floating down the river, but I needed to get out of it and find somewhere to stay for the rest of the day. I grabbed onto a vince and dragged myself up onto a rock. It felt good to be back on solid warm ground. I laid on the rock for a few minutes before sitting up to look at my leg and at my side. I yanked the one out of my side without thinking too much about it.

The leg took longer to yank out since I could see it better than I could my side. The knife in my leg was burried up to it's handle inside my leg. I definitely couldn't walk with it stuck in my leg. I finally grabbed the handle of the knife and yanked it out. The pain in my leg got worse, but it felt good to have the knife out of my leg. I looked around and couldn't figure out where in the Arena I was. I slowly got up and started walking. I walked for as long as I could before stopping to look for shelter. I didn't care where I had to stop for the rest of the day and night, I just needed somewhere to stay. I found a bush that I could crawl under and went under it. I laid down as soon as I got under the bush.

As soon as I woke up, I sat up. It was still dark outside but it looked like the sky was getting lighter. I needed to start moving. My leg, shoulder, and side were still hurting, but I couldn't waste time laying here and hoping that I wouldn't be found under a bush, practically defenseless without my backpack, spear, or anything. I crawled out from under the bush and stood up, taking off walking slowly.

* * *

After what must have been a few hours, I came to a clearing in the woods. I saw the Cornucopia in the distance and saw all of the Careers sitting around it, eating something. There was no telling what all they had gotten from the supplies they had at the Cornucopia. The boy from District Three was sitting beside Mathias Xinlim and was messing around with some wires connected to one of the plates that the Tributes had been standing on when we started the Games. They all looked in no hurry to get up, but I bet that'd change if they saw me standing here watching them. They had to know I wasn't dead by now. I took off walking again, hoping I was going in the right direction. I wasn't sure if I was or not, but at least I had where I'd started off at two days ago.

When I needed a break in the long walk, I sat down for a few minutes, cursing Staci in my head for causing me to lose all of my supplies. I was almost hesitant to keep walking in this area knowing that it was where the fight had taken place the day before. But I continued on walking.

When I finally saw a familiar backpack hooked on a tree, I let out a sigh and tried to hurry up getting to the tree. Once I got to the tree, I looked up at it. No sign of Rakayah in the tree though. No cannon had fired as far as I knew, so either it had and she died while I was out cold or she had moved on from this spot.

I climbed up the tree enough to pull the backpack off of the tree and dropped back down to the ground. I looked inside of it to see a few knives, some fruit, and a jug of water. I took a long drink of water and then ate an orange. I needed a plan and I needed one quickly. I didn't want to just be sitting here for the rest of the day by myself waiting. I sat there for a while longer before standing up. I needed a new place to stay in case something wrong was going on.

I was about twenty steps from the tree when I heard a cannon fire off. I stopped dead in my tracks. Who had died? I didn't have a clue. I just knew I wasn't safe at all right now. No one was. From my memories of other Games, when someone died, everyone else freaked out. Started running, ran into each other, got killed themselves. I took off running as good as I could and didn't look back.

I didn't stop running for a while, when I did it was because I saw a guy standing ahead of me. I recognized him as Tyler Hadix from District Six. I was about to turn around and run back to the way I had came from when I heard people running toward us. I turned in the direction I was sure was the Cornucopia and took off running.

I was surprised when I got near the Cornucopia and only saw two of the Careers standing there looking around. I recognized the boy from District Three and the girl from District Four. I didn't want to risk having them both after me or alerting the rest of the Careers if they were nearby. I figured the Career Pack was behind killing whoever had died, but I couldn't be sure. There was too many people in the Games to be sure. I stood there for too long though and the boy from District Three, John Palin, called out to the rest of the Careers.

Mathias Xinlim came running out of the jungle with his spear. I quickly grabbed a knife and took of running toward the other side of the clearing which appeared to be some sort of lake and wheat field; I had almost made it there when Mathias tackled me. He threw his fist down toward my face. I took in a gasp of air as his first connected with my jaw. So my life was going to end by being punched by a guy. After a few more punched landed on my face, Mathias grinned down at me. I threw up my arm and pressed the knife into his side where I was sure his lung was near. I was glad when the grin left his face and he fell off of me, landing on the ground and yelling for the rest of the Career Pack. I got up quickly and took off running.


	6. In The Arena

**In The Arena:**

The vines on the ground in this part of the jungle were bad and I heard it the instant someone was after me. They were having about as much trouble as I was with getting through the weeds quickly.

"Come on, Seth! Stop running!" I heard Trey's voice call out behind me. I didn't follow his suggestion and instead kept running through the jungle. I only heard Trey behind me so I guessed he convinced the rest of the Careers to stay back at the Cornucopia with Mathias. After a while of running, the footsteps behind me stopped and I was left alone in the jungle with only sounds of animals around me.

I slowed down to a walk and pulled out one of my knives, glancing around every couple seconds at the trees that were around me. I needed to find water and if at all possible, some food to eat.

* * *

I didn't manage to find water that first day in that part of the jungle, or the second day. I wasn't planning on leaving that part of the Arena either. I just kept walking, every once in a while I'd get a gift from sponsors. Usually a small bottle of water or some bread or dried meat. I kept walking some every day and it went good for the first few days in that part of the Arena. I hadn't seen any clues of any other Tributes and no one else had died so far in the Games until my fourth day in that part of the Arena.

* * *

I woke up to the sounds I'd gotten use to in this part of the jungle. Birds and some other animals that definitely weren't common in Seven. I stood up and looked around for a few seconds before taking off walking in the same direction I had been going yesterday. I was starting to wonder how big the Arena is when I heard the sound of a stream of water. I hurried up to get to the stream and was right near it when I felt a prick of something in my neck. I yanked the small dart out of my neck before turning around and grabbed a knife out of my belt.

I saw the girl from District Twelve running toward me with a knife. I threw my knife forward and it hit her right in her stomach. I rushed over and pulled out the knife and stabbed her again. The fight continued until she wasn't breathing anymore and the effects of her dart were setting in on me.

I stood up, dropping the knife to the ground.

* * *

_Everything was on fire around me. Trees included, and some branches were falling around me. I took off running as quickly as possible. Vines threatened to trip me all of the time that I had ran. Trees continued to fall on either side of me and behind me, and I kept having to dodge fire that found its way in front of me. _

_At one point, I smashed into a tree that had a nest full of hornets in one of it's branches. The hornets came flying out of the nest and started stinging me all over. I kept running and tried to knock the hornets off which only seemed to make them more mad at me._

_I had almost made it back to where I had stayed the night before when a vine tripped me. I hit my head as soon as I hit the ground on a rock. A couple of seconds later, a branch that was on flames fell and landed on my legs and back. Flames crept around my eyes until everything went black._

* * *

After who knows how long, voices broke through my dreams of fire and dying in the Games. I had to focus hard to figure out what exactly they were saying.

_"Think he's going to live?" A girl voice asked._

_"Funny question for someone who tried to kill him to ask." A male voice said._

_"Oh please, if I wanted to kill him he'd be dead. I did that to save his ass from you all." The same female voice said._

_"Would you both just shut up and help me move him?" Another male voice asked. This voice was a lot harsher than the first voice that belonged to one of the male Tributes was. "I mean, damn Tyler, it was you and Matt's idea in the first place to come looking for him."_

_"Good idea he did want to come looking for him, or else he'd be dead. Look at all of these stings all over him." Another female voice, different from the first one said. "Let's get him up and back to the camp with Matt."_

I opened my eyes and blinked everything into focus to find two male Tributes and two female Tributes looking down at me. I recognized the faces but I couldn't put names to them. After a few seconds, the guy Tributes yanked me up off of the ground and we were off walking. The black crept back over my vision and yanked me away from what they were all saying after a few minutes of walking.

* * *

I rolled over after a long time and let out a groan at the pain that lit up my side. I opened my eyes to see Mathias Xinlim propped up against a tree across an empty fire pit from me. I realized I was inside a sleeping bag that must have come from the Cornucopia. Mathias' head lifted up and looked at me.

"So, you're awake and alive." He stated, raising an eyebrow. "Get a good rest after knocking yourself out after running into a hornet nest?" He laughed without any humor.

I struggled to sit up and look at him fully. We were on a section of sandy area with a few trees in it right next to the river and it looked like there had been other people there. There was a few other sleeping bags scattered around the place. "Yeah, guess I am alive." I replied, shrugging.

"Good thing. I mean, I convinced the others to go look for you cause I said you were useful. If they had found you and you died, can you imagine how bad that would've looked for me?" Mathias replied.

"The others?" I asked, not sure of who all he was talking about.

"Staci, Tyler, Ivan, and Casey. According to them, they saw your little show of running into the tree, getting stung, and then knocking yourself out." Matt said, laughing for real this time.

I nodded. "Thanks, I guess."

"They went out to look for some useful stuff. No new stuff from sponsors except some stuff for your hornet stings." Matt explained, looking around.

"Why aren't you still with the Career Pack?" I asked, looking at him.

"We kinda had a disagreement. Princess... ugh... I mean your sister, thought she could lead the entire thing about who to go after next and all. Casey and I just gave up and left. We ran into the others after a while of walking around. Numbers are better than just being alone in the Games, you know." Mathias said, shrugging.

I nodded. And after a few minutes of silence, Tyler, Ivan, Casey, and Staci walked up to the camp area. Tyler and Staci looked at me while Ivan walked off with a backpack.

"You're alive. Good." Tyler said, smirking. I nodded.

"Thanks for saving me." I said, smiling.

"You're welcome." Staci said, walking off to where Ivan was.

Tyler was getting ready to say something when a cannon fire went off and another Tribute came flying through the edge of the jungle toward us with a spear.


	7. Attack From District Twelve

**The Attack From District Twelve:**

We all spun around as soon as David Franklin came flying through the tree's. Ivan picked up a long knife and watched as David ran closer. Tyler stepped in front of Ivan to stop him from automatically killing David.

"David! What's wrong?" Tyler asked, looking at David. David slowed down to a walk, glaring in my direction.  
"He killed Natalie!" He spat out, gesturing towards me.

"David, we saw what happened she attacked him first. It was self defense that drove him to kill her." Tyler said, trying to calm David down. David's eyes only narrowed at Tyler's sentence.

"You saw it happen? And you didn't stop him?" David said, his tone going harsh at the end.

"It's the Hunger Games, David! People have to die! Only one of us can survive." Tyler said. Ivan glanced over at me and narrowed his eyes.

"Fine," Ivan spoke up, walking toward David. "Kill him." He gestured toward me and shrugged. "Go on. Go kill Slade, Franklin."

David didn't move, instead just kept looking at Ivan. "As soon as I move toward him you're going to kill me. I'm not stupid." He said, shaking his head.

Ivan laughed. "Like I care about the kid. I didn't want him in this alliance in the first place. The others wanted him. Here take my knife, if you're that worried." He offered. He shoved the knife toward David. David slowly took it and marched toward me. Ivan shoved Tyler backwards when he went to walk toward David.

Matt stood up quickly and tossed a knife toward me. I picked it up off of the ground and looked at David. He jumped toward me and I stuck the knife outward, it caught him on the side; slicing open his suit that we were all wearing and some of his skin. Blood followed down his side and he made a growling sound.

His knife caught me on the cheek and I felt warm blood flow down my face. I didn't hesitate in stabbing him in the leg. He let out a howl and dropped to the ground. I dropped the knife right onto him and walked off, glaring at Ivan as I passed him. David wasn't dead, and I wasn't killing him unless he was aiming to kill me again. I had been walking for a few minutes when I heard loud breathing and running behind me. I glanced back to see Mathias.

"Hey, wait up. Where are you going?" He asked, catching my arm.

"I can't stay there, with Ivan. With any of you. You're the same as the other Careers so why shouldn't I just go and join up with my sister?" I asked, shrugging.

"Your sister? Oh, did your sister save your ass a few days ago? Bring you back to her camp? Make sure you lived? Kid, she didn't. I was in the Career Pack with her, she didn't give you two thoughts while we were together. She didn't save you, but I got the others to. Because I think you're worth something. You're not some idiot kid who needs protecting. You've lasted this long relatively on your own." He stated, letting go of my arm.

"Why should I believe you about that?" I asked, glaring at him.

"Kid, come on. If your sister really wanted to be in a team with you in these Games, why wouldn't she have came after you by now? Trey and I wanted you in the Career Pack. The others didn't really." Mathias said.

"So, whats Ivan doing at the camp right now?" I asked.

"Killing David, probably." Mathias said, shrugging. I narrowed my eyes. "Look, only one of us can win, so don't give me that look. Like I'm heartless for shrugging. We weren't going to let David kill you, you know."

"Oh really? Then why the hell do I have a cut on my face? Ivan would've let him kill me." I replied, shaking my head.

"Ivan might've. But Tyler, Casey, Staci, and I? Hell no. We all value you in this alliance. Ivan's a jackass. A psycho. He just wants to win the Games at all costs. He doesn't care who he stabs in the back and who he hurts." He explained. "He would've been perfect for the Career Pack, you know."

"Sounds like it." I answered.

"Come back to the campsite. We can kick Ivan out." Mathias offered, pointing back to where the jungle thinned out into the clearing. I shrugged and nodded. Mathias started walking back and I followed him. We got back to the camp in time to see all hell breaking loose again.


	8. This Isn't A Good Alliance Plan

**This Isn't A Good Alliance Plan:**

Matt and I stood there watching for a few seconds while Tyler and Ivan continued their screaming match. David was laying on the ground still with a few more stab wounds on him.

"So, do we even want to know what's going on here?" Mathias asked, looking at Tyler and Ivan.

"Idiot here doesn't want me to kill him." Ivan said, pointing to Tyler and then David.

Tyler shook his head. "What good will it do to kill him?" He asked, looking at Ivan.

"Get us all one step closer to winning this damn Games." Ivan said, his eyes narrowing at Tyler.

Tyler laughed. "Yeah, well sure. But other than that?"

"You're not going to win this because on top of everything else that's against you, you won't kill a kid. Just like you all wouldn't let Slade just die from the hornet stings. It would've put us one step closer to winning this thing, but no you all just have to have _him_ in this group." Ivan said, glaring over at me before looking back at Tyler.

"If you all don't shut up, the Career Pack's going to hear us." Staci said after a few seconds.

"Who cares? There's six of us here. We could take the Career's." Ivan said, looking over at Staci.

"Yeah? Six of us. Count me out, Ivan." Tyler said, grabbing a backpack up off of the ground. "I don't need to have allies this much in order to have to deal with your ass."

"Yeah, fine then Hadix. Run away and go get yourself killed by some of the Career's or other Tributes." Ivan said, picking up a spear and stabbing David in the chest with it. David let out a scream and within a few seconds a cannon went off and a hovercraft was above us all, picking up David. Ivan yanked his spear out of David at the last second; and Tyler walked off as soon as the hovercraft was gone.

"I'm going to look for stuff." Ivan said, grabbing his spear and walking off in the opposite direction from where Tyler went. I looked around at Mathias, Staci, and Casey.

"Well, wasn't that fun?" Mathias said after a second.

"Yeah," Casey said after a minute.

"Look, guys. I've been thinking and I think we should leave Ivan behind." Mathias said. We all looked over at him. "He can take care of himself, plus he's trying to run this group way too much for my liking. If he doesn't go, I'm going to be out of here soon enough."

I nodded. "Same here."

"Honestly, I haven't wanted to team up with him since we got to the Capitol." Staci said. "So, we leave him behind?"

"Matt, you and Seth alright to walk for a while?" Casey asked. Mathias and I both nodded.

* * *

After we had packed up everything into the backpacks that Mathias and Casey had walked away from the Career's with, Ivan still hadn't returned. We left the backpack that according to the others had been full of the stuff he had gotten there and left the place. I was walking behind everyone else for most of the walk when Staci dropped back to where I was.

"Think we'll catch up with Tyler?" She asked, looking over at me. I shrugged.

"Who knows how far he's gotten by now." I said.

"Any other Tributes who you teamed up with for a while in the Games?"

"I teamed up with the girl from District Eleven before I got stabbed by someone." I said, glancing over at her.

"Be glad it was me that got you and not the Career Pack. They would've made sure you were dead before leaving you." Staci said, shaking her head.

I laughed. "Yeah, sure. I'm ever so lucky to have a nose that didn't get set right, stab wounds that still hurt and I haven't done anything with, so they're probably filled with infection, and bruises covering me from you."

"Poor baby." She replied, laughing. "You know Ivan wouldn't of let David kill you."

"Yeah, right. Like I believe that for a second." I said, shaking my head.

"Okay, well the rest of us wouldn't have let him kill you." She said. After a few minutes, Mathias and Casey stopped and turned around to look at us.

"You all want to just stop here for a while, eat some fruit and stuff before we keep going?" Mathias asked. I shrugged and Staci nodded.

We all sat down and Mathias opened up a backpack, passing out fruit to everyone. We all ate the food in silence before standing up and starting to walk again. We hadn't been walking long again when Trey ran right into Mathias.

"Mutts! They've sent mutts in!" Trey said, before continuing to run. Within seconds we all heard the barks and growls of the mutts.


End file.
